Gareth Morgan Consultancy Ltd

03/09/2026

“Although some time was saved with AI, that was more than made up for with demand to complete other tasks, resulting in 55 percent of teachers who say they use AI working the same hours as before, and 4 percent saying they work more.”

So, 55 percent of teachers who say they use AI are working the same hours as before. I seem to remember highlighting this in my post, ‘You did not gain an hour, you gained another task’.

This could be something to think about if your school is currently exploring the use of generative AI to help reduce teacher workload.

https://www.headinthecloud.wales/2026/03/you-did-not-gain-hour-you-gained.html?m=1

https://www.theregister.com/public-sector/2026/08/27/ai-use-among-uk-teachers-doubles-but-working-hours-still-dont-come-down/5292551

F- for AI in test of reducing burden of teacher workload

02/09/2026

At the beginning of August I emailed the education minister with two proposals, one of which focused on learner use of generative AI in the classroom.

“A minimum 3 year moratorium on the use of generative AI by learners. During
this period the DCF is updated to include reference to 'unplugged' critical AI
literacy.”

I was therefore really interested today in what New York City Schools are doing with banning more than half a million students up to the age of 14 (8th grade) from using generative AI and joining what the Norwegian government has already put in place for its learners up to a similar age. It looks like the mayor is using this academic year to study the impacts of this technology (something that I called for in my reasons behind this proposal).

In a statement to ABC News, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that the city is implementing a moratorium on generative AI for students in pre-school or 2-K through eighth grade and will spend the next year "studying the impacts of this technology."

“Mamdani wrote in part, “the tech industry wants us to believe that A.I.-powered early education is not only inevitable, but necessary.”

“We do not see it that way,” he added.”

I love that last comment about the generative AI inevitably fallacy. Remember, generative AI is just a product being sold to education by huge tech companies who are desperate to see a return on the obscene amount of money they have plowed into it. I wonder if the Welsh Government will take a leaf out of Mamdani’s book and come to a similar conclusion about the use of generative AI by our young learners?

https://abcnews.com/Technology/new-york-city-public-schools-banning-ai-middle/story?id=136134872

30/08/2026

Using a VPN it’s interesting to see how Google presents its results of a simple search for “Lake Ontario”, in three different countries - UK, Canada and the US. 🇬🇧Lake Ontario (Lake America) 🇨🇦 Lake Ontario 🇺🇸Lake America
🤦🏻‍♂️

29/08/2026

Published on Substack
The 50 Percent Problem - Empirical evidence of the educational harm of generative AI

“[T]he point of assignments is the mental processes required to complete them, and the point of the mental processes is learning. That seems to suggest a simple litmus test for the use of AI. Artificial Intelligence tools should not substitute for tasks wherein students would benefit from doing the mental work themselves. Only use AI for what you already know how to do.

A tool that should only be used once you already know something is not a learning tool. We must stop gesturing at AI’s imagined potential, and focus our efforts instead on mitigating the 50 Percent Problem it’s created.”

Empirical evidence of the educational harm of generative AI

28/08/2026

26/08/2026

Great news 🙂 A $17 billion fine is better for Meta than the $200 billion fine that they were originally facing in the case, but it would have been really nice to see Zuckerberg and his cronies squirm in court and see them try to defend the indefensible. I'm guessing that the required changes to their platforms will affect users worldwide not just in the US? Hopefully so. Making those changes worldwide will probably head off more big fines from the EU who are pursuing several cases against Meta, covering antitrust rules for artificial intelligence (AI) on WhatsApp, child safety protections and addictive platform features.
Changing the addictive features of Instagram and Facebook will I'm sure have a huge impact on their profits, what a shame 😁 I guess they'll have to put all their efforts into trying to sell lots of their 'pervert glasses' 😎

Meta will pay up to $16.7 billion and make sweeping changes to Instagram and Facebook to settle a major US court case.

25/08/2026

What a great article in The Guardian from Katherine Rundell who is an acclaimed author of fiction for children and nonfiction for adults. I could have picked out lots of quotes but I picked out this one as it strikes at the heart of the dangers to the teaching profession and schools. This was something that I highlighted in my letter to the education minister, how 'rich schools' will be or are minimising the use of AI and digital tech for their learners, while the 'poorer schools' are going to be more reliant on AI tutors. As an example, look up what England are proposing for 450,000 disadvantaged learners.

"Those who work in ed tech promise that it will liberate teachers and create one-to-one learning experiences for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Certainly, AI teaching will be cheaper than teaching assistants. But we know that the second it becomes possible for an institution to achieve an end cheaply – even if it’s far worse – there is immense pressure from above to do so. I think it’s more likely that the rich schools will follow the lead of Sweden, which has taken a strong swerve towards non‑tech‑based learning, and Norway, which just all but banned AI in elementary classrooms – while poorer schools are left to make ever-greater use of LLM technology."

Education is at a crossroads, argues the author and academic. Should we embrace new technology in the name of efficiency, or is it time to fight back?

23/08/2026

I spent the first couple of weeks of the summer break putting together my thoughts around the introduction of generative AI into the classroom and proposing changes to the current DCF. If you have followed many of my posts on here, or spoken to me over the last 18 months you wouldn’t be too surprised about my AI proposal. However, the DCF changes might be an eye opener for some of you, but it is very much based on where we are currently with the use of digital technologies in the primary classroom, how other countries are reevaluating technology use (especially in the ‘infants’) and questioning whether the huge amount of money spent on digital technology has had any impact on learner standards.

I suggest you read the full letter, outlining my arguments for these proposals on my blog - https://www.headinthecloud.wales/ (link also in Bio)

What do you think?

23/08/2026

Absolutely. In my opinion, generative AI products within Hwb should not be switched on by default for our learners. Both teachers and parents should have the ability to decide for themselves whether using these products are appropriate for their classroom or for their own children.
What are your thoughts on this?

Should parents be asked to approve all uses of AI in learning? 🤔

This is the question being debated in the FL Department of Education on Wednesday.

“…guidelines would have to include parental notification when an AI system is approved, and give parents the opportunity to opt in if their child’s class is set to use it.”

Opponents say it should be an opt-out process, since many parents ignore school communications.

My thoughts?

EdTech has been mishandled by schools from the beginning.

Maybe “beyond a reasonable doubt” evidence that a child is approved to use experimental tech is exactly what’s best for childhood🧒🏽 AND learning 🧠

Would you want this at your school?

Parenting with you!
Chris



Article: Tampa Bay Times

21/08/2026

Next week, LibreOffice 26.8 will bring an improved tabbed user interface. But nobody is forced to use it – the classic menu+toolbar still remains. Indeed, there is no "best" interface, only the right fit: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2026/08/21/there-is-no-best-interface/